Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Interested public. No words today, again.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

• In Geneva, “[t]he UN human rights office said on Friday that the images of the shooting of Black man Jacob Blake in Wisconsin appeared to show that the police officer had used ‘excessive’ force that was likely discriminatory in nature. ‘From the images available that we’ve seen at this point, the police appear to have used force against Jacob Blake that would seem to be excessive,’ Rupert Colville said at a virtual briefing in Geneva, saying the use of force did not appear to comply with international standards.”

COVID-19 and Remote Legal Practice

• In Canada, a second-year law student at McGill argued in The Lawyer’s Daily that “the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the challenges faced by [Self-Represented Litigants]. As the legal community scrambles to understand and adjust to the reality of many COVID-19 related changes, the impacts on SRLs must not be forgotten.”
• In Berrien County MI, the Herald Palladium described “the innovative efforts the [] County Public Defender’s Office has put in place to remain open and provide access for clients during the coronavirus pandemic.”

Rule of Law & Voting Rights

• In Washington DC, “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo broke long-standing tradition by giving a convention speech while still serving as chief diplomat. This reportedly could violate his department’s own policy in addition to the Hatch Act. Additionally, Homeland Security Department acting Secretary Chad Wolf presided over an immigration naturalization ceremony during a pre-taped event that was aired during the convention, which a top House Democrat and a government watchdog group asked OSC to investigate. The White House and the agencies maintained they took precautions to follow the law.”
  • In further news, “Trump held a naturalization ceremony for new citizens, recorded at the White House and aired hours later as part of the Republican convention programming…The party also broadcast Trump issuing a presidential pardon to a convicted bank robber, and sought and received a permit to stage a fireworks show from the Washington monument.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[f]ive non-profits, including three voter advocacy groups, filed a lawsuit [] against President Donald Trump’s social media executive order from May, arguing it hurts the rights of voters who receive information through social media about mail-in voting.”
• In Portland OR, “[f]ederal agents sent by President Donald Trump to protect federal buildings in Portland are now under an injunction barring them from assaulting journalists and legal observers. The government says it will appeal.”
• In Kenosha WI, “[a] Seattle-based nonprofit group that serves food to protesters said [] that several of its members were still in police custody in Kenosha, Wis., after law enforcement officers sprang from unmarked cars and arrested them ahead of Wednesday night’s demonstrations in the city. The arrests were recorded by a bystander and shared widely on social media, renewing concerns that unidentified officers could be shielded in crackdowns on demonstrators.”
• In Michigan, “[a] nonprofit group tied to influential conservatives who worked closely with President Donald Trump to elevate two Supreme Court justices is urging key states to clean up their voting rolls — a practice voting-rights groups and Democrats argue seeks to ‘purge’ legitimate voters.”
• In California. Washington, and Texas, several “cities and counties [] sought a preliminary injunction to stop the U.S. Census Bureau from moving forward on an expedited plan to complete the 2020 count. The filing in U.S. District Court in San Jose came a week after the same parties filed a federal lawsuit against the plan announced Aug. 3 to compress 8 1/2 months of data collection and processing into 4 1/2 months, which [LA City Attorney Mike] Feuer said would result in an alarming population undercount.”

Legal Technology

• In the United States, “according to a privacy assessment recently published by the agency[,]” Customs and Border Patrol “will now upload [data from digital devices seized from travelers at or near the country’s borders, often without charging them with a specific crime] to a searchable, agency-wide surveillance database and maintain for up to 75 years.”
  • Privacy assessment published here.
• Also in the United States, “[a] coalition of 15 public interest groups states that PACER raises more than $140 million annually for the U.S. Courts, although some estimates put the cost of storing and retrieving that data at just over $225,000. They note the cost to store data has decreased 99.9% in the last two decades but the judiciary has chosen to increase PACER fees from $0.07 to $0.10 a page. The groups are urging Congress to advance legislation to eliminate PACER fees entirely.”
• Also in the United States, The Pew Charitable Trusts “created a framework that describes the four essential elements a portal should provide to help users navigate a legal issue and take informed action. Portals should enable users to ask questions about a legal issue, interactively refine their requests, learn about their options, and connect with relevant resources—such as legal aid and social services organizations or court websites—that can help.”
• In Pittsburgh PA, “[a] new proposal introduced to the Pittsburgh City Council this week would ban police use of facial recognition software and predictive policing technology, though the city’s law enforcement agency says it isn’t currently using either technology.”
• In San Francisco CA, “Rocket Lawyer…announced the release of RocketEvidence, its new mobile app feature that enables users to easily share video and other digital media documentation with attorneys for review.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In the United States, analysis from Student Loan Hero revealed that “[n]early half of Black borrowers regret borrowing in the first place, and it’s easy to see why: 4 in 10 survey respondents said their debt didn’t lead them to their desired career. And 7 in 10 said their repayment had delayed key financial milestones, such as saving for retirement.”

Immigration, Refugee, & Citizenship Issues

• In San Diego CA, “[a] an Diego Union-Tribune analysis of 10 years of [asylum] court outcomes uncovered many symptoms of the system’s biases — shortcomings that date to the system’s creation.” The analysis concluded that “the system has chronically fallen short of its promise of safety.”
• In Houston TX, “[t]he Trump administration has sharply increased its use of hotels to detain immigrant children as young as 1 before expelling them from the United States during the coronavirus pandemic despite facing outcry from lawmakers and human-rights advocates.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In the United States, “[a]n increasing number of legal services programs have secured CARES Act funding to expand tenant representation. These grants come from CDBG-CV, the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), and Emergency Services Grants (ESG).”
• In New York NY, “[t]he Legal Aid Society will take legal action if Mayor Bill de Blasio succumbs to local pressure to move homeless shelter residents from hotel rooms across the city back to congregate housing before it is safe, the group said[.]”
  • Relatedly, “[o]n behalf of the West Side Community Organization, attorney Randy Mastro has given the city 48 hours to commit to a timeline to relocate the new residents. If they don’t make this commitment, the group has threatened to sue.”
• In San Francisco CA, “Mayor London Breed expressed concerns on Thursday about the city’s budget after supervisors approved changes to her proposed budget for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 fiscal years…[In particular, t]he committee [] approved an additional $750,000 in the budget to expand the city’s Tenant Right to Counsel program…Under Breed’s budget proposal, the program would’ve faced cuts by as much as $1 million.”
• In Pennsylvania, with the state’s “moratorium on evictions and foreclosures set to expire on Monday, Gov. Tom Wolf said he prefers the legislature to take action as opposed to issuing an extension by executive order. But lawmakers won’t have time to come up with a fix before the deadline arrives.”
• In New York, “[w]hile testifying in front of the New York State Legislature on Friday, Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks warned lawmakers that the courts may have no choice but to return holding eviction proceedings by Oct. 1 as the Office of Court Administration feels that it doesn’t have the authority to extend such a moratorium indefinitely. Marks added that if the State Senate believes that the moratorium should exist beyond that date, that they, along with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have to be the ones to get it done.”
• In Oregon, “advocates say[] landlords are taking advantage of those hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic: undocumented Oregonians, particularly renters…[who] are ineligible for government assistance, such as unemployment and stimulus checks, and often lack savings and access to health care.”
• In Detroit MI, “Mayor Mike Duggan reminded residents Wednesday the city has about $12 million available and other services for residents who are at risk of losing their homes as an eviction crisis looms.”
• In Rochester NY, “[e]very Rochester resident facing eviction proceedings in a city court will now have access to free legal representation under a program that launched Tuesday.”
• In Hawaii, “the state’s labor department is reaching out to Hawaii’s legal community for volunteer help resolving thousands of backlogged unemployment insurance claims.”
• In the United States, “IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, and the Netherlands-based HiiL (The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law) recently launched the largest-ever survey of its kind as part of their US Justice Needs project. Funded by Bohemian Foundation, the US Justice Needs survey will reach 10,000 people in the United States and seek to uncover their experiences in accessing justice when they need it.”

Access to Justice – Criminal & Decarceration

• In Baltimore MD, “Marianne Lima[, who] oversees pretrial litigation for Baltimore’s public defender’s office, [] is concerned that clients whose cases are delayed because of coronavirus are forced to pay high fees for ankle monitoring services until trial.”
• In Georgia, “[t]he Georgia Public Defender Council’s executive director will restore a nearly full complement of attorneys to the council’s appellate division by the end of September.”

Criminal Justice Reform

• In New York NY, “[m]ore than 50 nonprofits, including social services organizations, advocacy groups and religious institutions, sent a letter that calls on New York City leaders to adopt an agenda featuring a slate of police reforms.”
• In Brooklyn NY, “District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on Monday that he is one of 42 prosecutors from across the country who have signed a pledge to reject campaign contributions from law enforcement unions, including the Police Benevolent Association in New York City.”
• The Intercept argued that “Wesley Bell’s decision not to charge the officer who killed Michael Brown exposes the limits of the movement to elect reform prosecutors.”
• In Contra Costa County CA, “District Attorney Diana Becton made a case for her ‘Reimagine Youth Justice Task Force,’ a varied group of advocates working to divert as many young offenders as possible away from incarceration and toward more progressive programs.”
• In Kansas, “Gov. Laura Kelly renominated a federal public defender for a spot on Kansas’ second-highest court despite his initial rejection by the Republican-led state Senate, saying he is undoubtedly the most qualified person for the job.”

This week we’re talking about election protection and voting rights! With the presidential election this fall, voting is at the forefront of the peoples’ minds, and this is the year to be involved. Potential election fraud is a big topic of concern. And the opportunities described below give you the chance to help ensure a safe and fair election year.

FairVote (Washington, D.C.; Tacoma Park, MD)

FaireVote is a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the electoral process to giver voters greater choice, a stronger voice, and a representative democracy that works for all Americans.

FairVote seeks law and policy interns to contribute legal writing, statutory analysis, social media outreach, and advocacy. Ideal candidates will be passionate about voting issues and structural election reform.

Follow this link to learn more. **Remote work may be a possibility.

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (National)

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law strives for equal justice for all, particularly people and communities of color. Right now, the Lawyers’ Committee is focusing its efforts on protection the Census, USPS, and the 2020 Presidential Election.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law seeks volunteers for its Election Protection Hotline. The Election Project project is the largest national nonpartisan voter protection coalition. Volunteers from all walks of life are encouraged to apply.

Follow this link to learn more. **Remote work opportunity.

Lawyers for Civil Rights (Massachusetts)

Lawyers for Civil Rights is a Boston-based organization representing clients across Massachusetts to foster equal opportunity and fight discrimination. Their work focuses on nine impact areas: community economic development, education, employment, race and climate justice, health disparities, fair housing, voting rights, immigrant rights, and police accountability.

Lawyers for Civil Rights seeks volunteers from all experience levels to help protect the November election and maintain the integrity of our democracy.

Follow this link to learn more. **Remote work may be a possibility.

League of Women Voters (Washington, D.C.)

The League of Women Votes of the United States is a nonpartisan membership organization working to empower citizens and ensure effective democracy.

The League seeks legal interns in their Advocacy and Litigation department. Interns will contribute legal writing and legislative analysis. Ideal candidates will be in their second or third year of law school and will be passionate about voting rights.

Follow this link to learn more.

Project Vote, Inc. (Washington , D.C.)

Project Vote is a national nonpartisan organization working to empower, educate, and mobilize low-income, minority, youth, and under-represented voters. Project Vote has helped register more than 5.6 million Americans.

Project Vote seeks interns to provide litigation and advocacy support as well as field expertise to ensure voter registration is accessible, effective, and enduring. Ideal candidates will be familiar with federal voting legislation and be fluent in Spanish.

Follow this link to learn more.

NALP aims to be the premier resource for information on legal employment and recruiting in the United States and Canada. We produce a variety of research reports, including Jobs & JDs, our Associate Salary Survey, and our Public Service Attorney Salary Report. NALP produces the Public Service Attorney Salary Report, the piece of NALP research most relevant to PSJD’s audience, every four years. We released our most recent version of the Salary Report in 2018, when we also integrated that report into PSJD as a series of interactive visualizations and made it free to access for all PSJD jobseekers. (Actually, the 2014 report data is also free to access via PSJD as well, so that users can make comparisons and see how salaries have changed over time; the whole report is well worth a look if you haven’t already taken the time to check it out.)

But although the Salary Report is available to jobseekers on PSJD via the site’s Resource Center, the PSJD Fellow and I speak regularly with jobseekers who ask us whether NALP has any information we can share about public service salaries. So we took some time and asked ourselves whether we could do anything to make this information easier to find and easier to use. I’m writing this blog post because, as it turns out, there was!

Beginning today, all of PSJD’s users who have access to the Public Service Attorney Salary Report (school administrators, jobseekers, and employers who have purchased access to the report or who have complimentary access because they contributed to our dataset when we conducted the Salary Survey back in 2018) should begin seeing relevant data excerpted from the report alongside job announcements as they browse PSJD. (Employers cannot browse PSJD job announcements generally, but if they have access to the salary report they will see salary graphs alongside their own job announcements.)

Here are a couple of examples of how this works. This is a job with a civil legal aid organization, located in Philadelphia PA. The relevant portion of the Public Service Attorney Salary Report is the section that discusses salaries with civil legal aid organizations in the Northeast US Census Region (the introduction of the report discusses how states are divided geographically). So in the sidebar, users will see a graph of median salaries in this region for attorneys at organizations of this type, drawn from the dataset for the 2018 Public Service Attorney Salary Report.

If a job announcement describes a position available in multiple locations, the salary visualization may describe multiple regions. This job announcement discusses a position with a public interest nonprofit which is available in New York NY, Oakland CA, and Boston MA. Because the position is available in locations within both the Northeast US Census Region and the West US Census Region, users will see a graph including median salaries for attorneys with such organizations in both regions, drawn from the 2018 Public Service Attorney Salary Report.

So that’s the basic idea. When we have relevant information about salaries that might help you as you browse PSJD’s jobs database, we’ll do our best to provide it to you–no need to go hunting to find out what we have. There are a few provisos worth keeping in mind:

• Jobs that are classified as “unpaid” or “pro bono” have no relevant salary information and will not have salary graphs.
  This limitation is pretty straightforward. If a job expressly says it is unpaid, there’s no need to compare it against salary information.
• Jobs with organizations that are not covered by the 2018 Public Service Attorney Salary Report’s categories will not have salary graphs.
  The 2018 Public Service Attorney Salary Report covers four organization types: (1) civil legal services organizations, (2) public defender offices, (3) local prosecuting attorney offices, and (4) public interest organizations with issue-specific missions. In the PSJD Jobs Database, these sections correspond to our organization types ‘Civil Legal Aid’, ‘Public Defender’s Office’, ‘Prosecutor’s Office’, and ‘Public Interest Nonprofit’. Job announcements with these employer types will include these integrated salary graphs.

We hope that all makes sense, but if you have any questions about the new feature please feel free to reach out. We’d be happy to talk about it with you.

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Interested public. Much news again this week, a pattern that seems unlikely to slacken anytime soon. Dozens of nonprofits weighed in on the debate about diploma privilege, while the Bexar County DA sought guidance on whether he could hold the USPS liable for violating election law. The House Education and Labor Committee heard testimony about the potential effects of the most recent executive order concerning student debt, and some excellent reporting from the Davis Vanguard, a California paper, described efforts in Missouri and Virginia to remove prosecutorial discretion from reform-minded prosecutors–in the former case by replacing their judgment with that of the state Attorney General, and in the latter with the judgment of the court.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

• In the United States, “a coalition of more than 120 public interest organizations…issued a powerful public letter to the National Board of Bar Examiners and 34 state boards overseeing their bar examinations in response to the ongoing problems and systematic unfairness resulting from efforts to administer the bar exam during a global pandemic. Due to the demonstrated inability of state bars to respond to this crisis effectively or equitably, the broad coalition representing civil rights, legal services, and national advocacy organizations called for these licensing bodies to provide diploma privilege to recent law school graduates in lieu of the exam.”
  • Meanwhile, “[o]n the day Florida had been scheduled to hold its bar exam online due to the coronavirus pandemic, before software bugs upended those plans, Florida’s chief justice issued a video message Wednesday apologizing to bar applicants and acknowledging the failure of officials responsible for the test.”
• In the United States, “[t]he American Bar Endowment has supported [access to justice] initiatives through its Opportunity Grant Program in recent years and is now looking for the next round of programs and projects aiming to address the public’s critical legal needs. The deadline to apply for the 2021 grant cycle is Oct. 2, with optional letters of intent due by Aug. 21.”

COVID-19 and Remote Legal Practice

• In Maryland, “[u]nion for Maryland Legal Aid employees claims top lawyers were fired to squash dissent over coronavirus reopening.”
  • Moreover, “[t]he sudden departures, which took place one day before state and federal eviction bans expired, have stoked concern that the organization will be less prepared to respond to an expected wave of evictions and other hardships triggered by the health emergency.”
• In Ontario, “[t]he federal government needs to step in to avert a funding crisis facing Legal Aid Ontario that could prevent access to justice for thousands of people hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, say some lawyers and leaders on the front lines of legal aid.”
• In Sacramento CA, the Davis Vanguard published an illuminating account of the interpersonal dynamics at play as courts conduct arraignments via Zoom.

Racial Justice

• In the United States, “[b]ackers of a nationwide initiative by law firms, launched in the wake of George Floyd’s death, to tackle systemic racism in the law are drafting paperwork to formalize it into an industry-funded nonprofit.”
• Also in the United States, the US Conference of Mayors published its “Report on Police Reform and Racial Justice” (discussed in an earlier edition of the digest).
• In Concorn NH, “a long-time law professor and former public defender advised the [state] panel on police accountability [that e]very prosecutor in the state should have training on racial profiling.”
• In Gainesville FL, “University of Florida law students are demanding college officials grant a professor’s appeal to teach her racial justice courses online this semester, a request that was denied by the school, effectively canceling the classes.”

Rule of Law & Voting Rights

• In Bexar County TX, “DA Joe Gonzalez sent a letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton, asking if he can prosecute federal officials who violate Texas election laws.”
  • Meanwhile, in Washington DC “[a] former high-ranking official who previously oversaw the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday that while she applauds Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s latest commitment to delay proposed changes to mail services, she is still worried about the impact on mail-in voting this November.”
• In the United States, “[t]he U.S. Postal Service is rerouting mail away from at least some of its smaller processing plants, creating more uncertainty surrounding recent changes that could lead to slower mail delivery.”
  • Meanwhile, “[a]ttorneys general in several states are looking into ways to sue the federal government and block it from reducing mail service.”
• In New York NY, “U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero emphatically upheld a subpoena ordering Trump’s accountants to hand over [his tax returns], siding with Vance in the prosecutor’s probe of Trump’s alleged financial misdeeds.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he top attorney at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [] rejected a nonpartisan congressional watchdog’s report which concluded that two of the agency’s top officials—Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli—were ineligible to serve in those roles.”
• Also in Washington DC, “President Trump can give his convention speech from the White House and White House officials can assist and attend in specific circumstances without violating the Hatch Act, the independent agency that oversees civil service law said last week.”

Pro Bono Publico

• The Indiana Lawyer published an excellent overview of states’ mandatory and voluntary pro bono reporting programs, focused on Indiana.
• In Ohio, “[p]ro bono financial contributions from attorneys to low-income Ohioans have increased significantly in the past year, according to a new interactive dashboard.” (Dashboard available here.)

Legal Technology

• In New York NY, “Blue J, the leading provider of AI-backed legal predictions, announced today the launch of its COVID-19 relief programs and credits guided analysis tools for the United States and Canada.”
• Lawfare published a policy analysis of Client-Side Scanning, “a system…to scan photographs and messages before they are sent from a user (or after received by another user) in order to determine whether the images or messages in question contravene legal prohibitions.”
• The Wall Street Journal reported that “[i]n the last few years, companies have started using such race-detection software to understand how certain customers use their products, who looks at their ads, or what people of different racial groups like. Others use the tool to seek different racial features in stock photography collections, typically for ads, or in security, to help narrow down the search for someone in a database…The field is still developing, and it is an open question how companies, governments and individuals will take advantage of such technology in the future. Use of the software is fraught, as researchers and companies have begun to recognize its potential to drive discrimination, posing challenges to widespread adoption.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Delaware County PA, “[s]taff attorneys of the [] Public Defender’s Office have voted 33-3 to unionize, according to a release.”
• In Broward County FL, Public Defender Howard Finkelstein fired Ruby Green, “the assistant public defender who lost to Howard Finkelstein’s chosen successor Tuesday night…on Wednesday morning in a terse e-mail.”
• In Washington DC, “[a] union representing employees at the Social Security Administration accused the agency of withholding basic information and refusing to bargain over reopening procedures, even as some employees have been called back into physical offices.”
• In Ontario, “[a] recent survey of organizations run by the Ontario Non-profit Network (ONN) revealed some troubling figures: one in five of the survey’s 1,100 respondents say they may have to shut down by the end of December. Another quarter said that 2021 will likely be a greater financial struggle than this year.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Washington DC, “Ben Miller — vice president for postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress — told the House Education and Labor Committee that [the executive order extending an interest-free pause on federal student loan payments for the remainder of 2020] could lead to some big problems. ‘There’s little chance the economy will be in strong shape by then,’ Miller stated. ‘Having roughly 26 million borrowers all enter repayment during the holidays — it’s an implementation disaster in the making.’ He offered him a different plan, however, suggesting ‘an approach that pauses payments for a full year and ties interest restarting to positive economic indicators would be much better.’”
• Also in Washington DC, “[w]hile Congress is currently in recess, Republicans have been trying to piece together a pared-down stimulus package amidst failing negotiations regarding a larger, more expensive plan. Their draft proposal, which has been put together in advance of lawmakers’ return to Washington D.C. in September, calls for a variety of economic relief. However, as Forbes noted, their proposal would not provide any student loan relief.”
• In Wisconsin, “Governor Tony Ever’s task force on student debt released reports outlining eight recommendations for how Wisconsin can provide relief and protection for student debt holders.”
• In California, “a recently resurrected bill that would add consumer protections for student loan borrowers and establish a Student Borrower Bill of Rights in California is expected to be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee, one of the last hurdles towards passage.”
• On the internet, “[s]peaking at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told viewers that Joe Biden will ‘cancel billions in student loan debt’ if he is elected President.”

Immigration, Refugee, & Citizenship Issues

• In Denver CO, “[h]undreds of other Denver residents face an immigration judge without a lawyer because there is no public defender system in immigration court. Even more people could soon be added to that tally due to a shortfall in money for the Immigrant Legal Services Fund. The fund funnels a combination of city dollars and private donations to four nonprofits that help indigent Denver residents fight deportation and apply for legal residence by providing legal assistance. A $50,000 decline in money from the city paired with a drop in private donations has caused the fund’s 2020 budget to fall to $250,000 from the approximately $385,000 it received in fiscal years 2018 and 2019.”
• In Maryland, “[a] nonprofit coalition is asking a Maryland federal court to sanction the Trump administration, saying the government is intentionally misleading the public and disobeying multiple court orders after the U.S. Supreme Court instructed it to reinstate the Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals program.”
• In El Paso TX, “an immigration nonprofit changed in a complaint sent to the city’s district attorney [that] Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers routinely sexually harass and assault detainees at the El Paso Processing Center[.]”
• In Bend OR, “[a] federal judge [] said she wasn’t convinced that the detention of two men in Bend by ICE agents was unlawful and denied a nonprofit law office’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the federal immigration agency.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In Utah, the state “will try out new law practice business models that allow for more participation by nonlawyers after the state Supreme Court unanimously OK’d a standing order that goes into effect Friday authorizing a pilot program aimed at improving access to justice in the state.”
• In Chattanooga TN, “the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga…is shifting [its work] as lawyers prepare for an eviction boom. On July 24, the CARES Act eviction ban on subsidized housing ended. 30-day notices expire soon, and lawyers like Emily O’Donnell are preparing for an onslaught. ‘The reality is we just don’t know until we see it,’ she said. ‘But we do know is that this eviction problem is going to last longer than we anticipated.’“
• In Cleveland OH, “Legal Aid is taking on an increased number of cases, especially in the areas of housing law and employment law. Already, compared to the same time last year, the organization has seen a 25% increase in landlord-tenant cases and a 46% increase in work-related issues such as unemployment.”
• In Ontario, a class-actions lawyer said “the Ontario government’s recent amendments to the Class Proceedings Act are an attempt to raise the bar on class-action certification[.]”

Access to Justice – Criminal & Decarceration

• In Honolulu HI, “[the] Public Defender’s Office wrote a letter to Chief Ballard asking for increased discretion when making arrests due to COVID-19 spiking at the O’ahu Community Correctional Center.” The Honolulu Police Department Chief responded at length, “wr[iting] that the Public Defender’s Office’s request is ‘not viable.’ ‘It sacrifices the safety of the law-abiding citizens in our community and allows those who choose not to follow the law to run free…I also encourage you to direct your efforts to the Department of Public Safety and urge them to address the issues plaguing their facilities.’ “
  • Meanwhile, “[t]he Hawai‘i Supreme Court is requesting a list of all inmates who qualify for an expedited release from the Public Safety Department’s correctional facilities statewide.”
• In New Orleans LA, “[t]he New Orleans City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee on Monday voted in favor of an ordinance that would require the city to give the Orleans Public Defenders at least 85 percent of the money it gives to the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office — a proportion roughly equal to the number of criminal defendants in Orleans Parish that the public defenders estimate they represent.”
• In Nevada, “indigent defendants…won preliminary approval for a consent judgment that would force the state to reform its public defender system, which advocates say has been broken for years.”
• John Jay College’s Center on Media Crime and Justice argued that “President Trump is loading the bench with former prosecutors … [and b]y doubling down on the status quo of prosecutors as judges, the Trump Administration is embracing a formula that has ushered in an unprecedented era of mass incarceration in the United States… Despite their neutral mandate, judges, like the rest of us, are influenced in their decision-making by their personal characteristics. Indeed, some studies show former prosecutors are more likely to rule against criminal defendants than their peers.”

Criminal Justice Reform

• The Davis Vanguard reported on a practice emerging in Missouri and Virginia: “[e]arlier this week the Vanguard reported on efforts by the Missouri Governor, Attorney General and Legislature to strip St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner of her powers, by giving the AG the power to directly prosecute certain cases. In Virginia something similar is happening, except that the impetus is coming from the Arlington County Circuit itself. On March 4, 2020, the Circuit Court entered an order that would require that the Commonwealth Attorney in Arlington justify all charging decisions and writing—decisions on whether to dismiss, charge or even settle cases in her jurisdiction. As one source put it, “decisions that are at the core of the exercise of independent prosecutorial discretion.”
• In New York, “[t]he New York Civil Liberties Union on Thursday published a full database of police misconduct reports after a federal appeals court in Manhattan denied a request by police unions to block their release.”
• In the United States, “[t]he U.S. movement Campaign Zero recently partnered with the Kira Systems, a Canadian company which builds contract analysis and review software, and together have analysed hundreds of police union contracts, determining how these contracts enable police to evade accountability for misconduct.”
• In Ontario, the province “has ended police access to a COVID-19 database after a legal challenge was filed by a group of human rights organizations. Aboriginal Legal Services, the Black Legal Action Centre, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario were all parties to the lawsuit.”
• In Massachusetts, “[r]ecords requests sent by WBUR to all 11 district attorney offices in Massachusetts reveal[ed] a patchwork of Brady policies. The Middlesex DA’s list appeared to be the longest and most up-to-date. Five DA offices said they do not keep any such officer list at all…The inconsistency of prosecutors’ Brady practices raises questions about how those that don’t organize information about police misconduct comply with their constitutional requirements in court.”
• In Virginia, “[l]ocal prosecutors [were] cautiously optimistic about Tuesday’s special legislative session on criminal justice reform, although the area public defender said big changes are long overdue.”
• In Portland OR, “Oregon State Police [] said they were withdrawing protection from Portland’s federal courthouse over frustration at a prosecutor’s decision not to indict many people arrested in protests there.”

Yesterday, we revealed a new section of our Resource Center titled “Fighting Racism” to help jobseekers more easily locate jobs, internships, and pro bono opportunities to support the work of civil rights and criminal justice reform. One area that is sometimes overlooked as a racial justice issue is environmental justice. On the “Fighting Racism” page, you’ll see a category to help you find opportunities to work in environmental justice.

The environmental justice movement confronts the impact climate change and harmful environmental practices have on people. In particular, communities of color and low income communities are frequently chosen to house facilities that pollute the environment and these communities. In fact, the burden on these communities is so targeted that advocates for environmental justice call these practices “environmental racism.” (Refer to the NAACP and NRDC for more information.)

This week we’re highlighting internships working on environmental justice issues and with environmental justice organizations. More opportunities in this category (including attorney positions and pro bono work) can be found on the Fighting Racism resource page.

NOTE: You’ll notice that some of the internships described below cannot be found using the pre-built keyword search on the Fighting Racism resource page. However, these are jobs that speak to the same concerns but are not tagged with the “racial justice” practice area. So feel free to use the pre-built searches, but also keep your eyes peeled for more opportunities when you’re exploring PSJD.

Chesapeake Climate Action Network (Takoma Park, MD)

Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) is the first non-profit dedicated to fighting climate change in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. CCAN’s mission is to build the movement necessary to put the DMV region on the path to climate stability and to inspire change in other states, regions, and countries.

CCAN seeks an intern for the Fall semester to support their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Chesapeake region. The ideal candidate will be eager to learn about grassroots organizing and be passionate about fighting the causes of climate change.

Follow this link to learn more.

Conservation Law Foundation (Boston, MA; Portland, ME; Concord, NH; Providence, RI; Montpelier, VT)

The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) protects New England’s environment through legal, scientific, and market-driven strategies. CLF staff work closely with communities or color and disadvantaged communities who often suffer disproportionate impacts of environmental degradation.

CLF seeks interns throughout the New England region for both summer and academic year internships. Interns during both programs will work in one of four areas: clean air, clean energy, and climate change; clean water; ocean conservation; or transportation and environmental justice.

Follow this link to learn more about full-time summer internships.

Follow this link to learn more about part-time academic year internships.

Earthjustice (New York, NY)

Earthjustice is a national nonprofit environmental law organization advocating to protect people’s health, to preserve places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. The New York Office is currently working to address air and water quality, clean energy and transportation policies, and protections from toxic substances.

The New York Office seeks full-time legal interns for the fall semester to support litigation and advocacy projects. Ideal candidates will be committed to environmental justice and have significant knowledge of environmental law.

Follow this link to learn more. **Remote work may be a possibility.

Environmental Defense Fund (Washington, DC)

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is a national organization using science, economics, and law to develop solutions to today’s environmental problems. EDF’s work currently focuses on transportation, air quality, and the global atmosphere; water resources; toxic chemicals; solid waste; and wildlife and wild habitats.

EDF’s U.S. Clean Air Team seeks legal interns for next summer to support projects related to climate change, air quality, and energy. Interns will have the opportunity to work on litigation and legislative efforts. Ideal candidates will have an interest in climate and air quality issues at regional, national, and international levels.

Follow this link to learn more.

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Interested public. Another behemoth digest this week. Major stories include new research from the Center for American Progress & the American Bar Association and a new executive order extending the moratorium on student debt collections.

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

• In the United States, the Center for American Progress released “Pipelines to Power: Encouraging Professional Diversity on the Federal Appellate Bench”, a report concluding that:

“professional diversity on the federal appellate courts is severely lacking, with significant implications for the type of legal expertise underlying the opinions these judges issue. Only about 1 percent of sitting circuit court judges have spent the majority of their careers as public defenders or within a legal aid setting. In contrast, the federal appellate bench is swamped with those who spent the majority of their careers in private practice or as federal prosecutors—making up more than 70 percent of all sitting appellate judges. No sitting judge spent the majority of their career with a nonprofit civil rights organization…This lack of diversity not only reflects the closed and elitist nature of the federal appellate bench but also represents a barrier to the courts’ ability to develop intellectually rich jurisprudence grounded in an awareness of a broad set of individuals’ experiences across the country. To improve this state of affairs, significant disruptions are needed—from law school through every stage of an attorney’s prejudicial career—to broaden pathways to the federal bench and challenge long-held assumptions on the “right” type of attorney to take up a gavel.” (emphasis added)

• Also in the United States, the American Bar Association released its “2020 Profile of the Legal Profession”, a report in which “[t]wo new section were created specifically for the 2020 Profile: A statistical look at legal desserts–areas with few lawyers–including the number of lawyers in every U.S. county and maps that show where lawyers are and aren’t, [and a] survey…that measures how law school debt is affecting everyday life for young lawyers.”
  • As one source summarized the report’s student debt section: “student loan debt affects nearly every facet of [new lawyers’] lives: 48% said they had postponed having children or decided not to have children. 29% said they had postponed marriage or decided not to get married. 56% postponed buying a home or decided not to buy a house. Some reported moving in with parents. 37% chose a job because of a higher salary over a job they wanted more.” (emphasis added)

COVID-19 and Remote Legal Practice

• In Philadelphia PA, “[a] family court judge has refused to wear a face mask during in-person court hearings amid the COVID-19 pandemic and has sometimes ordered lawyers to remove their face masks, according to a letter by a public defender group.”
• In Mississippi, “[t]he Mississippi Supreme Court will reevaluate the possibility of allowing plea hearings in felony cases to be done by videoconference.”
• In Alaska, “[w]ith coronavirus on the upswing, a group of recent law school graduates say it’s too risky to sit indoors for the Bar exam. They’re asking the Alaska Supreme Court to allow applicants to practice law without taking the two-day proctored test.”
• In Maryland, “[m]embers of the Maryland General Assembly penned a letter Thursday, appealing to the Maryland judiciary to consider allowing recent law school graduates to practice without passing the bar exam, citing a series of safety concerns surrounding test administration during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
  • Also in Maryland, “[f]our top attorneys with Maryland Legal Aid were fired last month after sending a letter to their boss that pushed back against plans to reopen the offices during the pandemic.”
• In New Jersey, the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey issued formal objections to the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts plan for partially remote jury trials.
• In Oklahoma, “[t]he COVID-19 pandemic has complicated how…lawyers who serve older Native Americans in rural parts of [the state]…safely continue their work.”

Rule of Law & Voting Rights

• In Washington DC, “President Trump [] suggested he was holding up a deal on coronavirus relief in part to ensure the U.S. Postal Service would not have sufficient funds to handle mass mail-in ballots this fall, falsely conflating various pressures the agency is facing.”f
• In Florida, “felons [and] lawyers face ‘tremendous confusion’ on voting rights.”
• In Boston MA, “[w]ith just under eight weeks to respond to the U.S. census,…[s]everal populations in the city are at risk of being undercounted, including people of color, immigrants, renters and crowded households[; ]Several nonprofit organizations have asked the secretary’s office to release funding previously promised, so that Boston can get the funding and representation it needs for the next 10 years.”
• In New York, “President Donald Trump [] insisted that a grand jury subpoena for his tax returns was overly broad and issued in bad faith and that as President he deserves extra protection from what he called harassment by Manhattan’s district attorney.”

Legal Technology

• In Canada, a policy analyst on technology, cybersecurity and democracy at Ryerson University argued that “[c]ountless studies, inquires and commissions on Canadian policing have identified Black and Indigenous peoples as disproportionately vulnerable to police surveillance and violence…The adoption of data-driven technologies that expand the scope and depth of surveillance by police therefore moves beyond privacy and involves questions related to our democracy, including human dignity and the right to be free from discrimination. This makes the issue a concern for all Canadians.”
• In Dallas TX, “[t]he Dallas County Public Defender’s Office and Uptrust, the social justice communication platform, have announced a new partnership to employ Uptrust’s two-way communication technology to help defendants make it to court.”
• In New Jersey, “[i]n a case involving the intersection of technology, privacy rights and law enforcement, the state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that neither federal nor state laws protected a former Essex County sheriff’s officer…from disclosing the pass codes to his iPhones.”
• In Florida, residents “facing eviction have access to a new online tool to create a legal response based on the state’s limited extension of a moratorium on evictions for nonpayment directly related to COVID-19.” The tool is http://floridaevictionhelp.org/

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In New York, “Attorney General Letitia James announced [a] lawsuit [against the National Rifle Association (NRA),] filed after an 18 month investigation conducted by its office. The lawsuit claims that the NRA has violated the state’s non-profit laws by illegally redirecting tens of millions of dollars from the group through excessive expenses, contracts that directly benefited relatives or close associates of high ranking members and board memebers and grossly excessive salaries and bonuses.”
• In The United States, “[t]he Association of Administrative Law Judges accused the Social Security Administration of breaking federal labor law when it implemented a partial union contract on Monday.”
• In Government Executive, a correspondent took “a look at Kamala Harris’ Record on Federal Workforce Issues.”
• In Maryland, “[s]taff from the state’s office of the public defender are planning to unionize after going public earlier this month.”
• In Hawaii, “nonprofits are adapting their services and business models to patch up sudden funding gaps generated by the financial chaos unleashed by COVID-19. Experts say the current economic climate will undoubtedly force some philanthropic organizations to merge or close.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In the United States, “new polling shows that measures to help those with student debt remain overwhelmingly popular.”
• In Washington DC, “President Trump signed an executive memorandum that purports to temporarily extend student loan relief for millions of Americans. Trump issued the memorandum after Congress was unable to reach a compromise on extending student loan relief and other economic assistance programs that are expiring…Advocates for student loan borrowers slammed the president’s memorandum as woefully insufficient.”
  • Meanwhile, Student Loan Hero advised that “the suspension will end eventually, so it’s worth preparing now for that new beginning.”
• Also in Washington DC, a new “investigative report, issued by The American Federation of Teachers and the Student Borrower Protection Center, examined records accessed through state and federal open records requests. The authors argue that there continues to be widespread problems with the PSLF program.”
  • The full report, “Broken Promises: Employer Certification Form Failure,” is available here.
• In Forbes, a contributor discussed “What Kamala Harris Could Mean for Your Student Loans.”

Immigration, Refugee, & Citizenship Issues

• In the United States, “[t]he Trump administration has argued that, because of the pandemic, it must circumvent protections built into immigration law for migrant children, which dictate they should be turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services (and ultimately to sponsors in the U.S.) and given a chance to seek asylum. Administration officials have said that they can’t risk that infected children would spread COVID-19 through the system. Yet even after children test negative for the virus, they aren’t being allowed to access the usual protections.”
• In Farmville VA, “[a] federal judge has ordered immigration authorities to stop transferring people in and out of a detention center [] that has become a hotspot for the coronavirus. The National Immigration Project and Legal Aid Justice Center filed a lawsuit late last month [in which t]hey alleged that large numbers of detainees were transferred into crowded conditions before they were quarantined, leading to what the New York Times called the worst outbreak of coronavirus at any such facility in the U.S.”
• In Bend OR, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Director David Drasin refused an immigration attorney’s demand to meet with men seized from the streets of Bend, Oregon, and held on a bus for hours as protesters tried to block the bus from moving, according to a new lawsuit.”
• In Tijuana Mexico, “[s]ince the US government enacted a policy known as “Remain in Mexico” in January 2019, asylum seekers have been forced to wait for months in violent towns across the border until their US asylum hearing date, forcing many into makeshift camps as shelters filled up – a situation made even more precarious recently as Mexico has some of the highest COVID-19 infection and death rates in the world.”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In the United States, “legal aid providers are estimating the national price tag for helping tenants facing the prospect of losing their places to live will top $2.5 billion.”
• Also in the United States, “housing experts say that [the executive action President Donald Trump took, which is] being billed as an eviction moratorium is really just a few recommendations that will not actually do much, if anything, to keep renters in their homes.”
• In New York, “[t]he freeze on residential evictions in New York that began in March because of the pandemic will be extended until October 1, state court officials announced on Wednesday…A new memo from Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks says renters cannot be removed from their homes before October, but eviction proceedings filed before March 17 can resume, only if conferenced in front of a judge. Eviction cases filed after March 17 remain suspended.”
• In New York NY, “Mayor Bill de Blasio announced [] the city’s newest initiative to help renters and tenants struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic[:] the Tenant Protection Portal that will be free and accessible to all tenants.”
• In Indiana, “[a] statewide moratorium on evictions and utility shut-offs is set to expire Friday, which could leave thousands of Hoosiers scrambling for help…[T]he director of the Fort Wayne Housing Authority…says he’s seeing more and more clients seeking state rental assistance now that the moratorium on evictions is slated to end.”
• In Northeast Ohio, “housing advocates [] are working to connect those facing eviction with resources and legal representation as courts resume hearings.”

Access to Justice – Criminal & Decarceration

• In San Quentin CA, “[i]n order to minimize the number of COVID-19 patients, health experts recommended cutting San Quentin’s population by 50%. But this recommendation has been met with hesitation. Alameda County Chief Public Defender Brendon Woods told YR Media that before the outbreak happened, he submitted a proposal to Governor Gavin Newsom in which he outlined a plan to cut California’s prison population by about 30% to minimize the chances of major outbreaks. But Governor Newsom didn’t adopt his proposal, and Woods said another major prison outbreak is ‘just a matter of time.’”
• In New York NY, “[t]he Bronx Defenders, one of the city’s largest nonprofit legal advocacies, and the New York Giants pro football team are pairing up ‘to combat inequities in the criminal, immigration, family, and civil legal systems,’ according to a joint news release from the organizations.”
• In Chicago IL, “[a] Cook County judge [] denied a request by the public defender’s office and a coalition of activist groups to immediately make Chicago police give suspects speedy access to phone calls after arrest, saying the circumstances do not constitute an emergency that requires him to step in.”
• In Oahu HI, “[as t]he outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the state corrections system continued to expand…Hawaii Public Defender James Tabe said Sunday night that his office is working on a new request to the Hawaii Supreme Court to take steps to reduce the inmate population to allow for social distancing and help slow the spread of the disease.”

Criminal Justice Reform

• In the United States, “[t]he U.S. Conference of Mayors has tapped Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr to help put together a list of reforms and recommendations aimed at building trust between police departments and their communities while rooting out racist policing practices.”
• Also in the United States, “[m]ass arrests following nights of tumultuous unrest in Chicago and Portland, Ore., have pitted liberal prosecutors against police and even Democratic allies over concerns that lenient charges will lead to further property damage and violence.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he DC Police Union is seeking an injunction that would block Mayor Muriel Bowser from publicly releasing the body-camera footage and names of police officers who have “committed an officer-involved death” in the nearly six years since the camera program’s inception. A new D.C. law mandates that Bowser release the information by Saturday.”
• In Portland OR, “Multnomah County’s newly elected District Attorney, Mike Schmidt, unveiled a new policy on how his office will prosecute cases for those arrested during the protests in Portland. The policy [] says the district attorney’s office will decline to prosecute cases where charges only involve violations of city ordinances, or cases that don’t involve ‘deliberate property damage, theft, or threat of force against another person.’”
• In Pima County AZ, “[a]fter 40 years of the prosecutor’s office in Pima County being under the same leadership, Laura Conover overwhelmingly defeated the hand-picked replacement of 24-year sitting DA Barba LaWall—out-distancing her nearest opponent, the head of the homicides investigation unit, by a 57-36 margin…Just since May, she is the latest in a string of wins for progressive prosecutors—Mike Schmidt in Portland, Jose Garza in Austin, Mimi Rocah in Westchester, NY, Eli Savit in Michigan, and Kim Gardner in St. Louis.”
• In Hennepin County MN, “[a] study of one year’s traffic data in Minneapolis shows Black Drivers accounted for nearly 80 percent of police searches and routine traffic stops in the predominantly-white city.”
• In Salt Lake City UT, “[s]ome Black Lives Matter protesters…could face up to life in prison if they’re convicted of splashing red paint and smashing windows during a protest, a potential punishment that stands out among demonstrators arrested around the country and one that critics say doesn’t fit the alleged crime.”
• On the Internet, Democracy Now “host[ed] a debate on [Kamala Harris’] record as California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, when she proudly billed herself as “top cop” and called for more cops on the street. San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Niki Solis says Harris was the state’s most progressive DA and advocated for “so many policies and so many alternatives to incarceration.” Law professor Lara Bazelon says Harris was on the wrong side of history for often opposing criminal justice reform, though her record did change as a senator.”

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Interested public. Another behemoth digest this week. Major stories include the growing chorus of concern about a coming wave of evictions, weighty deliberations at the ABA (see Editor’s Choices).

Take care of one another,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

• In the United States, over 100 deans of law schools wrote to the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, arguing that “[p]reparing law students to be lawyers requires that they should be educated with respect to bias, cultural awareness, and anti-racism,” and “collectively urg[ing] the Council to charge the Standards Review Subcommittee to study and consider enacting a requirement that every law school must provide training and education of its students with regard to bias, cultural awareness, and anti-racist practices.”
• In Chicago IL, “[a] resolution urging state courts of last resort to cancel in-person bar exams during the COVID-19 pandemic, and develop alternate plans to license candidates, will be considered by the ABA House of Delegates assembly.”

COVID-19 and Remote Legal Practice

• In Canada, an opinion piece in Canadian Lawyer argued that “[w]ith less money to spend, individuals may choose to forgo hiring lawyers and do their own legal work; To this end, lawyers should be open to alternatives to charging by the hour. Creating a fee arrangement that works for the client can provide more certainty that you will be paid for your work.”
• In Texas, “[r]emote appearances and filing through email are two of the technology improvements that COVID-19 has forced on the immigration courts, according to immigration lawyers and a judge.”
• In Louisiana, “[m]ore unexpected delays have brought on continuances to trials that were scheduled to take place over the past three weeks.”
• In Missoula County MT, “[a]ttorneys in Missoula’s state public defender’s office issued a letter to the local judiciary [] urging judges to cease in-person hearings until Missoula County is no longer designated a hot spot and confirmed COVID-19 cases have made a steady decline.”

Rule of Law

• In Hawaii, “[a]ttorneys argued before the Hawaii Supreme Court [] over how much lawmakers should allow the public to weigh in on legislation as laws are being drafted and voted on[, ] considering a lawsuit challenging the Legislature’s practice of stripping bills of their original content and substituting something entirely different.”
• In Washington DC, “[t]he leadership of the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Tuesday introduced a pair of bills aimed at expanding whistleblower protections for federal employees and preventing agencies from retaliating against feds who file information requests through transparency laws.”
• Also in Washington DC, “[P]resident Donald Trump [] placed Anthony Tata into a key Pentagon position after the Senate Armed Services Committee effectively doomed his nomination for a related role, side-stepping Congress and exploiting a legal loophole that may allow Tata to take the top job without Senate confirmation at all.”
• Also also in Washington DC, “President Donald Trump on Monday erroneously claimed that he had the authority to issue an executive order to restrict the growing number of states that are moving towards universal mail-in voting for the 2020 election due to the ongoing pandemic. Legal experts were quick to point-out that any such order would undoubtedly be unconstitutional, as presidential elections are run by individual states.”
• In Manhattan NY, “[the] district attorney’s office suggested that President Donald Trump and his business were under investigation over bank and insurance fraud, according to court documents filed Monday. The documents — filed as part of an ongoing legal battle between District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. and Trump over Trump’s tax returns — mention ‘public reports of possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization.’“

Legal Technology

• In New York NY, “[t]he Legal Aid Society, the City’s largest provider of criminal defense and civil legal services, announced today that it is partnering with Uptrust, the social justice communication platform, to reduce the number of Failure to Appear (FTA) incidents, arrest warrants, and pre-trial technical violations in New York City. The partnership will apply Uptrust’s innovative and unique two-way communication technology to reduce jail populations and save millions of taxpayer dollars.”
• In Forbes, a contributor argued that “rather than pass a generally applicable privacy statute [Congress] should explore the possibility that strong privacy rules might be one policy response to the lack of competitive alternatives in markets controlled by the dominant technology companies.”
• In Washington DC, “[a] federal appeals court [] upheld a district court’s finding that the federal judiciary had improperly covered certain expenses with PACER fees in a class action lawsuit challenging the user fees charged for access to court records.”
• In California, “[a] proposal to bolster the [California Consumer Privacy Act] has received enough signatures to qualify for November’s general election ballot.”
• In Chicago IL, “[t]he SAND Lab at University of Chicago has developed Fawkes1, an algorithm and software tool (running locally on your computer) that gives individuals the ability to limit how their own images can be used to track them. At a high level, Fawkes takes your personal images and makes tiny, pixel-level changes that are invisible to the human eye, in a process we call image cloaking. You can then use these “cloaked” photos as you normally would, sharing them on social media, sending them to friends, printing them or displaying them on digital devices, [etc.].”
• In the United States, “[p]rotests over racial inequality are exposing tensions between law enforcement access to digital data and citizen rights against unwarranted searches, which may force courts to grapple with how to protect people’s privacy.”

Non-Profit & Gov’t Management & Hiring

• In Maryland, “a district court dismissed a federal employee union’s lawsuit that claimed the Office of Special Counsel’s guidance on using the terms ‘impeachment’ and ‘resist’ at work violated free speech protections and was a misinterpretation of the Hatch Act.”
• Also in Maryland, “[i]n an effort to rein in caseloads, improve working condition and have a greater voice in the criminal justice system, the public defenders of Maryland are unionizing.”
• In Minnesota, “[t]he Minnesota Supreme Court concluded, in a July 29, 2020, decision*, that an unpaid student intern working at a local nonprofit was entitled to the same protection against discrimination found in the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA) as paid employees.”
• In New York, “[the] state’s attorney general sued to dissolve the National Rifle Association on Thursday, alleging senior leaders of the non-profit group diverted millions of dollars for personal use and to buy the silence and loyalty of former employees.”
• In Chicago IL, the Chicago Sun Times’ Editorial Board published a piece arguing against “the new [Metropolitan Water Reclamation District] rules[, which] require individuals at nonprofits to register as lobbyists and record all discussions they have with officials at government agencies, even if that interaction is nothing more than answering the phone when an official calls for technical advice.”
• In Washington DC, “[a] Federal Labor Relations Authority regional director last week reaffirmed that federal immigration judges are not management officials and therefore can unionize, rejecting an effort by the Justice Department to decertify the National Association of Immigration Judges.”

Immigration, Refugee, & Citizenship Issues

• In New York, “the state’s nonprofits serving immigrants in detention revealed that not only were their contracts cut in late June, but that came on top of the state not reimbursing contracts from last fiscal year.”
• Also in New York, “[an appeals court ruled that a] judge [had] correctly struck down a new Department of Homeland Security rule that went into effect earlier this year denying green cards to legal immigrants who use Medicaid, food stamps and other forms of public assistance[.]”
• In Virginia, “[t]wo college students sued the Trump administration over a recent change in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that they say places a heavy financial burden on young people.”
• In Washington DC, after President “Trump issue[d an] election-year order on H-1B visas and federal contracts[, e]xperts say it is unclear what a new executive order issued by Donald Trump on federal contracting will accomplish, though it may be followed with additional measures to restrict companies that employ H-1B visa holders.”

Student Loans & Student Debt

• In Pennsylvania, “[a]ttorney General Josh Shapiro permanently shut down Equitable Acceptance’s efforts to operate in Pennsylvania, and is requiring the company to cancel nearly $200,000 in debt for its former Commonwealth customers.”
• In Washington DC, @realDonaldTrump tweeted that President Trump had “notified [his] staff to continue working on an Executive Order with respect to Payroll Tax Cut, Eviction Protections, Unemployment Extensions, and Student Loan Repayment Options.” Forbes analyzed what this statement might signify.
• In New York, “[t]he New York State Department of Financial Services sent a letter to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on behalf of a multi-state coalition of student loan advocates urging the Secretary to take proactive steps to protect student loan borrowers.”
• In the United States, Benefits Pro published an article discussing how “[e]mployers recognize need for solutions that address employee student debt post COVID-19[.]”

Access to Justice – Civil & Economic

• In the United States, “[t]he clock is ticking for Americans who are struggling to pay rent amid the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. The $600-a-week enhanced unemployment benefits created in Congress’s CARES Act runs out on July 31. The federal eviction moratorium—which protected about one quarter of American renters—expired July 24. Many of the patchwork state and local eviction moratoriums have already ended, with more expiration dates on the horizon for others. The U.S. Census Bureau’s weekly survey of American households recently found that 26.4 percent of Americans have either already missed a rent or mortgage payment or have little to no confidence that they will be able to pay their next month’s rent on time.”
• In New York NY, “New York’s court system is expected to begin processing new eviction cases [] for the first time since March, and the Legal Aid Society is predicting 14,000 households will face eviction immediately.”
• In Rochester NY, “Rochester’s City Roots Community Land Trust, in partnership with the Yale Environmental Protection Clinic, released a guide — Confronting Racial Covenants: How They Segregated Monroe County and What to Do About Them.”
  • Also in Rochester, “residents threatened with eviction would be guaranteed free legal representation under a bill expected to pass City Council this month, as the city braces for an anticipated deluge of eviction cases from landlords looking to recoup income lost during the pandemic.”
• In St. Louis MO, the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis “explore[d] the influence that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on student debt, demonstrating the inequities that have let low-income households fall further behind and what this means for these households’ financial outlook.”
• In USA Today, Rep. Joe Kennedy III argued that “[w]e absolutely must extend the nationwide moratorium on evictions. But an emergency stopgap won’t be enough. We must fortify the legal rights and protections for all low-income Americans who encounter our civil justice system. And we must make sure those in need have access to those protections through legal representation.”
• In Massachusetts, “[a] group of tenant advocacy groups will not be able to intervene in a legal challenge to Massachusetts’ eviction moratorium, a federal judge ruled from the bench on Tuesday.”
• In Salt Lake City UT, “[e]victions could be coming over the next few months, after moratoriums ended and certain federal benefits have run out.”
• In Louisiana, “[t]he head of the New Orleans legal aid office says calls for help from people who have lost their jobs have increased more than 600 percent.”
• In Texas, “[s]ources say a potential surge in evictions looms as the next big threat to Central Texans related to COVID-19.”
• In Ontario, a “new omnibus bill, passed in July, introduce[d] more stringent tests which lawyers say will make it difficult to sue institutions through class-actions.”
• In Cook County IL, “[a] legal services group is asking a Cook County judge to address delays in domestic violence cases. Legal Aid Chicago filed a suit [] seeking mandamus relief against the clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court, arguing it has not received copies of orders of protection for its clients and that the clerk’s office has not made good on a promise to implement a timely delivery system.”

Access to Justice – Criminal & Decarceration

• In Nevada, “[t]he ACLU of Nevada, which sued the state in 2017 for failing to provide public defense for people who couldn’t afford a lawyer in rural counties, announced Thursday it had reached a settlement that ensures people who have been charged with crimes that could be punished with imprisonment receive counsel.”

Criminal Justice Reform

• In Miami FL, WLRN reported that “an internal committee inside the prosecutor’s office makes decisions about how money raised from criminal defendants is spent[–a practice which] has raised questions of conflict of interest[.] Some groups that received tens of thousands of dollars in funding are closely connected to State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.”
• In Minneapolis MN, police data revealed that “police stop and search a disproportionate rate of Black and East African drivers and their vehicles during routine traffic stops compared with other races.”

Hello jobseekers! This week we’re featuring post-grad fellowship opportunities focusing on racial justice issues in various legal areas including education, employer, civil rights, prisoners’ rights, criminal defense, and the rights of survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Each of these opportunities are project-based fellowships, which will require a separate application to at least one potential funding source, with the help of the host organization.

ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties (San Diego, CA)

The ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties (ACLUF-SDIC) works to advance equality, freedom, and justice along the California-Mexico border. The ACLUF-SDIC achieves its goals through litigation, policy advocacy, public educaiton, and community organizing.

The ACLUF-SDIC seeks fellow applicants to work on projects addressing racial disparities in public education and disciplinary practices in schools. The ideal candidate will have excellent legal analysis, research, and writing skills and have a dedicated commitment to diversity and the promotion of civil rights and civil liberties.

Follow this link to learn more.

District of Kansas Federal Public Defender (Kansas City, KS)

The Federal Public Defender for the District of Kansas represents indigent persons charged with federal crimes.

The Federal Public Defender seeks to host a fellow interested in criminal justice reform. As its clients are disproportionately people of color, the ideal candidate will strive to educate themselves race, culture, and the need for institutional reform and systemic change.

Follow this link to learn more.

Georgia Resource Center (Atlanta, GA)

The Georgia Resource Center (GRC) represents people facing death sentences in Georgia state and federal courts. As Georgia is only one of two states that does not provide counsel for death row inmates in post-conviction proceedings, GRC was created to provide attorneys to all death row inmates in habeas corpus proceedings.

GRC seeks to sponsor a fellow on a project to address racial disparities in the capital punishment systems. Along with accomplishing the goals of the project, the fellow will be expected to be involved in all stages of litigation. The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated commitment to indigent defense and to raising awareness of the impact of racial bias on the criminal legal system.

Follow this link to learn more.

Just Futures Law (Canton, MA)

Just Futures Law (JFL) is a women of color-led immigration legal project that combines activism, community organization, and litigation to disrupt and dismantle the U.S. deportation and mass incarceration systems.

JFL seeks to host a fellow interested in advancing a project centered in one of JFL’s priority areas: disrupting the role of surveillance technology in immigration policing; challenging activist retaliation; gang policy accountability; and combatting ICE and local police collaboration.

Follow this link to learn more.

Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice (Los Angeles, CA)

The Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice (LACLJ)’s goal is create a strong community where families are safe, stable, and free from injustice. LACLJ strives to achieve this goal by providing holistic, trauma-informed services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and empowering survivors to take control of their own futures.

LACLJ seeks a fellow to work on a project to provide legal services to survivors at the intersection of domestic abuse and sexual assault racial justice issues. The ideal candidate will have experience working with victims of sexual or gender-based violence.

Follow this link to learn more.

Rights Behind Bars (Washington, DC)

Rights Behind Bars (RBB) is a non-profit organization that represents incarcerated people in civil rights lawsuits and advocates for humane living conditions in prisons. RBB also assists incarcerated people advocate for themselves in pro se litigation as well as advances legal reform through government work and affirmative litigation.

RBB seeks to sponsor a fellow to support RBB’s appellate and affirmative litigation dockets. The ideal candidate will believe that all incarcerated people should be treated with humanity, care, and dignity.

Follow this link to learn more.